This agrarian sounding saying tells us that no matter how hard we try to change who we are, our roots will always remain. Much the same way as domesticated goats, these will always show an unstoppable tendency to climb up the steepest mountains when given the chance.

Typically derogatory in nature, this saying is usually used in a way to highlight imbued cultural or behavioral tendencies. Here is a curious example that will help us explain this saying: do you remember the movie The Godfather? In that movie, Michael Corleone seemed "different" yet he ended up in the family "business"—and with even more cold-bloodedness than his father Don Vito. In the case of the Corleone clan, we could say that the "cabra siempre tira al monte".

It is assumed that the origin of this saying is pastoral in origin; that is to say that it comes from the ingenuity and observations of past goat herders. However, there is another idea, possibly invented to give it a more interesting touch. The backers of this notion focused on the pejorative nature of the expression and coupling that with negative connotation of the goat by referencing its link to the devil. We don't happen to believe in this interpretation but, as always, with those wacky folks... la cabra siempre tira al monte.